St Mary the Virgin and All Saints, Potters Bar

Tour (5)

All Souls’ Chapel

On the south side of the chancel is the All Souls’ Chapel. The cross on the altar is made of aluminium from the zeppelin brought down at Potters Bar in 1916.

On the wall hangs the bell of HMS Poppy, a Corvette, the cost of which was subscribed to by the town of Potters Bar in 1942; whilst at the back of the chapel is laid up one of the battle Ensigns of HMS Poppy.

The South Transept

A Pietà painted by Miss B E Lithiby is in the recess and in front, displayed on an old altar made from an early seventeenth century wooden table, is the Roll of Honour, containing the names of the town’s servicemen who fell in both World Wars, and those civilians killed by enemy action. Standards of the Royal British Legion and the Royal Air Force Association, together with flags of the Scouts and Guides, are all laid up on the wall.

On the altar rests the Book of Remembrance in which the names of the faithful departed are entered under their obit days, so that they are remembered on their anniversaries. The painting by Michael Leigh behind the altar represents the particular judgement of the soul of a young WWII soldier at the moment of death, amidst a varied group of servicemen; underneath is the legend ‘Behold I make all things new’.

A reliquary embedded in the altar contains a relic of St Antony of Padua and a fragment of the inner coffin of St Edward the Confessor contained in a silver box.

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Page last modified:
26 January 2004